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Are stand-up bass and piano among the sternest tests of truthfulness at the lower reaches of the audio band? The Pass Labs combination met the challenge with contemptuous ease, sounding organic and true to life. Where so many amplifiers deliver stand-up bass as a steep transient followed by an over-damped decay, the XP-12/XA30.8 shows that it's a much more complex affair. We get skin and nail on gut string, followed by a 'woomph' as the fundamental and its harmonics develop, supported by the resonances of the wood of the instrument chiming in, then a sweet and lingering decay as the energy dissipates. Piano is similarly arresting via the Pass Labs combination, delivering a very satisfactory blend of real-world percussiveness, weight and harmonic complexity. Read More